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US capture of fugitives subject of international alert praised by INTERPOL

LYON, France – The arrest by US law enforcement authorities of an escaped convict and of his alleged accomplice who were the subject of an INTERPOL Orange Notice international alert has been praised by the world police body.

The fugitive couple, 45-year-old John McCluskey, and Casslyn Welch, aged 44, who have been captured in Arizona, were the subject of an Orange Notice issued at the request of INTERPOL’s National Central Bureau (NCB) in Washington. Authorities had been searching for the couple since McCluskey escaped from Arizona State Prison on 30 July with two other inmates who were later re-captured. Welch is suspected of acting as an accomplice in the jailbreak.

The Orange Notice was circulated by INTERPOL’s Command and Co-ordination Centre (CCC) at its General Secretariat in Lyon to all relevant national and migration authorities to assist in the location and arrest of the fugitives, based on identifying information such as photographs and tattoos provided by NCB Washington.

INTERPOL’s Executive Director of Police Services, Jean-Michel Louboutin, congratulated the US authorities following the arrest of McCluskey and Welch. He added that NCB Washington’s request for the Orange Notice had ensured that authorities and the wider public in the region and internationally had been alerted as to the threat posed by the fugitives.

An INTERPOL Orange Notice can be issued by its General Secretariat for any act or event which poses a risk to public safety and security around the world.